Washington underdogs team up

For Washington Senate candidates Paul Akers and Clint Didier, it’s been a struggle to convince national Republicans that GOP frontrunner Dino Rossi isn’t twice the candidate that each of them is.

So the two underdogs have come up with a solution: they’re teaming up.

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Akers, an inventor, and Didier, a former NFL player, announced Thursday night that they will run radio ads together to present voters with a choice for Senate other than Rossi and Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, the two-term incumbent. They’re planning to air their first spots starting Monday, with the intention of running them over a two- or three-day period.

Akers and Didier plan to share airtime in their commercials, taking turns talking about their political views. They haven’t decided how many ads they’ll produce or how much they will spend to run them

If that strategy sounds a bit slapdash, there’s a reason for it. Akers told POLITICO after a Thursday tele-town hall that the plan only started coming together earlier this week.

“We started putting it together in literally a matter of two or three days, max,” Akers said. “The cool thing about that is it’s going to catch people off guard. They’re not going to expect Paul Akers and Clint Didier, two people who are running for the same office. So that was the innovative aspect that really captivated my imagination.”

In their question-and-answer session Thursday evening, Didier and Akers urged Rossi to debate them and even suggested a four-way debate that included Murray, too.

“I think we shouldn’t limit it to just Dino,” Didier said. “Let’s get Patty in the same debate room. We need all four of us in there.”

There are just a few weeks to go until Washington’s Aug. 17 primary election, and there’s little sign that either of the long-shot Republicans is catching on. Even South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, who has endorsed a series of conservative insurgents in 2010 Senate primaries, got behind Rossi this week.

“I would surmise that he did not look carefully at the candidates,” Akers said of DeMint’s decision. “I think if Jim DeMint had looked carefully at the three candidates he would have seen unequivocally that I am more qualified than the other three candidates to be the next U.S. senator.”

That comparison includes Didier, his new campaign partner, Akers said: “Great man, but there is no comparison.”